Canon Tops LensRentals’ Annual List of Most Rented Cameras

As 2022 winds down to a close, LensRentals has released its annual list of the most popular cameras and lenses that filmmakers have rented.

For the second year running, Canon has dominated the list of top cameras with the Canon R5, followed by the R6 full-frame mirrorless cameras, and the EOS C70 Cinema Camera coming in at number four.

Sony was not left out, however, with the Sony a7S III the third most popular camera, and the Sony FX3 full frame cinema camera being the ninth most popular rented camera of the year.

Image Credit – LensRentals

The Sony FX6 and Sony Alpha a7III placed 14th and 17th respectively.

And even though DSLRs are all but extinct for future development, the Canon 5D Mk. IV is still popular, making it into the top ten by taking eighth place on the list. Rather impressive for a camera that was released in 2016.

Image Credit – LensRentals

Lenses filled out the top ten, with the Canon RF70-200 F/2.8L IS taking the fifth position, the Sony FE 70-200mm F/2.8 GM OSS following in sixth place, and the Canon 24-70 F/2.8 L II coming in seventh.

The Canon 70-200 F/2.8L IS III rounded out the top ten. As an honorable mention on the list the RED Komodo 6K Cinema Camera just made the top 20 at 19th, which the staff at LensRentals rejoiced over since it’s the first time RED has cracked the top 20.

Image Credit – LensRentals

By market share, Canon dipped slightly to 35.77%, with Sony taking up the slack with 31.06% of the rental market.

Although it didn’t have any cameras in the top 20, Blackmagic took third place in the rental space with a tiny 6.8 percent, and Nikon and Panasonic rounded out the top five, hovering around 5.29% and 4.12 percent respectively.

RED doubled its rental market share with 3.1% of the market, and in a shocker, ARRI had just .73% of rentals this year. Even GoPro managed to out-rent the cinema giant by nearly a third, with 1.27%.

In lenses, Canon more than dominated with 37% of the market share, nearly twice as much as second place Sony. Sigma came in third.

Image Credit – Sigma

However, the rental market seems to be generally trending downwards, with half of all rentals losing market share, by about 2 percent on average, with the other half trending up by about a percentile. Only Panasonic remained pat in the lens rental market.

By mount, Canon’s EF mount remains the most popular, in spite of a negative 4% change, with Sony’s E-Mount gaining some ground with a nearly 3% improvement. Canon RF followed in third with an improvement of 2.4% and a market share of over 15%.

And while Sony still hasn’t been able to supplant Canon with camera renters, it is gaining ground, if only by a few percentiles. Canon has to pay close attention as the trend seems to indicate that users are intrigued by Sony as a potential alternative.

It’s a slight indicator to be sure, but coupled with Canon’s loss in overall market share, it’s something worth keeping an eye on.

[source: LensRentals]

Order Links:

  • RED KOMODO 6K Cinema Camera (B&H)
  • Sony a7S III Mirrorless Camera (B&HAmazon)
  • Canon EOS R5 C Mirrorless Cinema Camera (B&HAmazon)
  • Canon EOS C70 Cinema Camera (B&H)

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